Railway-switch.



mn s'rrns TWICE,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 30, 1906.

Application filed May 16,1905. Serial No. 260,645.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. MANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Switches, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to railway-switches adapted to be automatically operated from a moving car.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, durable, and effective construction of switch-operating mechanism by which the movable rail-sections or switch-tongues may be operated from an approaching car in advance of entering the switch and which may be particularly adapted to street-railways, the parts of which may be located beneath the street-surface and offer no obstruction to traflic.

To this end the invention includes the combination and arrangement of component parts to be hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of track embracing the switch and my operating mechanism, and Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of the same.

The invention includes generally a air of rods eccentrically pivoted at one ento a concentrically-pivoted horizontal disk and having their opposite ends freely held in beveled grooves in a block flush with the tracksurface and an arm connecting the said disk with a movable track-section and projections carried upon the free ends of said rods adapted to engage depending arms carried on t e cars.

Referring to the drawings, A and A indicate the rails of the main track, and B and B the rails of the side track.

0 and O designate the movable rail-sections constituting the switch.

The horizontal disk 1 is located between the movable rail-sections and is concentric ally pivoted to suitable foundations beneath the surface of the track. Said movable railsections 0 and O are connected with the disk 1 by the operating-arm 2, which is eccentrically pivoted on the periphery of said disk at 3 midway between the points at which the lever-rods 4 and 5 are attached thereto, as hereinafter described.

At a predetermined distance in advance of the movable rail-sections C and C the block 6 is located between the rails A and A of the main track. The said block 6 is provided with beveled grooves D and D, made parallel with the rails A and A of the main track adapted to serve as bearings for the free ends of the lever-rods l and 5. The walls of the said grooves are substantially vertical, and the floor thereof is beveled or sloped down- Wardly from a point near the top of the boX at the front thereof toward the switch-section of the track, and for the purpose of retaining the lever-rods therein the lower portions of such grooves are slightly enlarged adjacent to the floor.

The lever-rods 4 and 5 are preferably constructed in flat strips of stiff metal or other suitable material and are of somewhat greater Width than the upper portion of the grooves D and D and are designed to lit in the enlarged portion thereof adjacent to the floor in which they are freely movable longitudinally. The free ends of the said leverrods are bent slightly upwardly to conform to the slant in the floor of the grooves D and D. Carried upon the said free ends of the lever-rods 4 and 5 are the disappearing blocks or projections 6 and 7. Said blocks are of the same width as the narrow upper portion of the grooves D and D and are of such height that when they are located at the high est point on the floor of said grooves they project above the surface of the block 6, in which position they may be engaged by depending arms on an approaching car for the purpose of operating the lever-rods and the consequent shifting of the switch. The opposite ends of the said lever-rods are pivoted on the periphery of the horizontal disk 1 at a and I), being diametrically opposite to each other and 011 a line transverse of the rails of the main track.

Suitable guides for the lever-rods 4 and 5 are designated by 8 and 9, located between the pivot and free ends of said rods.

In the operation of the switch an adjustable depending arm or projection on an approaching car strikes or engages one of the disappearing blocks 6 or 7, according to the track desired to be taken, which presses said block forward, and by reason of the slope of the floor in the groove in which said block is carried the block is also depressed and becomes flush with the street-surface simultaneous with the completion of the adjustment of the switch and is thereby released from further pressure and engagement with the arm on the car.

It is obvious that the forward movement of the blocks 6 or 7, attached to the lever-rods 4 and 5, partially rotates the horizontal disk 1 in either direction, and thereby actuates the operating-arm 2 and sets the switch in the desired position.

The construction and operation of this invention will readily be understood upon reference to the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings, and 1t will be appreciated that the parts and combinations recited may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a switch-operating lever and rods pivoted thereto at one of their ends and having their opposite ends free and upwardly disposed, of a box having gradually-inclmed grooves therein in conformation with the slant of the free ends of said rods constituting slideways therefor, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a switch-operating disk, an arm eccentrically pivoted thereto connecting same with a switch, lever-rods eccentrically pivoted at one end to diametrically opposite sides of said disk, the opposite ends of said rods being upwardly bent and bearing thereon at their extremities contact-blocks of lesser width than the rods, of a box having gradually-inclined grooves in conformation to the bend in the end of the lever-rods and being slightly enlarged adj acent to the floors thereof adapted to retain the rods therein and constitute bearings therefor, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to the specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES A. MANN. lVitnesses:

ALBERT Hnssnnne, FRANK W. HEWITT. 

